As a seventh-grader Matt Rodriguez lacked any goals for the future. “I was a little troublemaker,” the 16-year-old recalled of his middle school years.

Then someone suggested that he try out a program called Goals for Life in which retired professional football players mentor at-risk youths in Long Beach and surrounding areas about academics and ambition. “Since then I’ve straightened up to be a more than average student,” Matt said.

Matt’s turnaround is what Reggie Berry, Goals for Life’s executive director, hopes for all of the students who participate. On Sunday, the Norwalk-based organization will hold its third annual Rooftop Celebration and Fundraiser at Ocean Center in Long Beach. In addition to Berry, a former San Diego Charger, the celebration will feature ex-Los Angeles Rams players Rosey Grier and Ron Brown. While this marks just the third benefit Goals for Life has organized, the nonprofit has been around for more than two decades, Berry said. A thousand middle and high school students in Long Beach Unified and Norwalk-La Mirada Unified school districts participate in the program, according to Berry.

While students don’t have to be athletes to participate, the ex-NFL stars often use football analogies to teach the youth principles to live by.

“With sports you need the right attitude. You need to know how to prepare oneself,” Berry said. “You need self-discipline, determination. You’ve got to learn to focus.”

The former athletes also teach the youths about having a winning attitude versus a losing attitude. Berry, who played for the Chargers from 1972 to 1974, said he personally had to learn this lesson after a coach in college told him he wasn’t tough enough to play football. Before that, Berry said he had to overcome a writing disorder, dysgraphia, as a student. While he grew up with positive role models, including his father and numerous coaches, the youths Berry has mentored over the years typically come from single-parent homes.

Matt is one such youth. He said that no male role models played a primary role in his life when he discovered the mentoring program in middle school.

“So many kids have parents in the criminal justice system,” Berry said. “Most kids today — somebody in their family is in jail.”

Berry has spread the word about Goals for Life by speaking at school career days, assemblies and other events. He said that recruiting retired football players to mentor the youth has never been a problem because athletes typically enjoy working with youth.

Take Ron Brown. He met Berry at a function about a decade ago and didn’t hesitate to be a Goals for Life mentor. Brown said that the nonprofit appealed to him because the youth of today need attention.

“A lot of our kids are lost,” he said. “A lot of them are broken, and we’re here to assist kids in achieving their goals.”

Goals for Life’s Rooftop Celebration will take place Sunday at 5 p.m. on the fourth-floor rooftop of Ocean Center, 110 W. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach. For more information, contact 562-864-6040 or go to www.goalsforlife.net.